KEV: CITY’S QUEST TO BE QUAD SQUAD
KEVIN DE BRUYNE has set his sights on winning the Quadruple. After a season which has been blighted by injury, Manchester City’s Belgian midfielder wants to walk away with a place in the history books.
City go into today’s Carabao Cup Final against Chelsea at Wembley sitting at the top of the Premier League.
Pep Guardiola’s men already have one foot in quarter-finals of the Champions League after a 3-2 midweek victory at Schalke and will meet Swansea in the last eight of the FA Cup.
And De Bruyne has now admitted that the aim at the Etihad is to eclipse Manchester United’s Treble winners of 1999 by completing a clean sweep.
De Bruyne said: “We want to win everything. We want all four titles.
“It is nearly impossible to do that but that is our aim. We want to set new standards. We want to win every game and see where we end up.
“But the closer you get to finals and the endgame, then you want to win the titles.”
City have already scored 127 goals in all competitions this season.
They beat Chelsea 2-0 in the Community Shield in August and ROOKIE keeper Aro Muric is expecting to be thrown into the fray against Chelsea today.
Muric, 20, a Kosovo international born in Switzerland, has played in every round of Manchester City’s defence of the trophy.
Now the 6ft 6in stopper (right) is ready to be asked to halt Eden Hazard and company ahead of first-choice Brazilian star Ederson.
Muric said: “It’s amazing for me to make this step. It’s a great experience for me and I appreciate the manager giving me this chance.” avenged a 2-0 Premier League defeat at Stamford Bridge in December by destroying Maurizio Sarri’s side 6-0 at the Etihad two weeks ago.
De Bruyne added: “In the bad moments we have shown that this team is mentally and physically strong enough to come back from anything.
Now we are in the most important part of the season, we are happy to be competing on all four fronts because it takes a good team to get to where we are.
“We are trying to be relentless. In games where we are winning 2-0 or 3-0, we want to still score one, two or three more goals. We want to score as many goals as possible.
“It makes it more fun for everyone because we all look at our statistics, and if you have chipped in it gives you a good feeling.
“For 99 per cent of the time, we are favourites to win every game we play. But that’s why we don’t talk about what we want to win – because at the end of the day we want to win everything.”
De Bruyne, 27, has been slow to hit his best form after two serious knee injuries. He has started 13 games this season and admits he hated every moment on the sidelines. He said: “I don’t like to sit outside. I can’t stand it. I am happy to be back.” PEP GUARDIOLA insists he would not swap a Manchester City victory at Wembley today for a Liverpool defeat at Manchester United in the Premier League title race.
City boss Guardiola (left) said: “Of course it would be good for us if Manchester United take a result but we have a final.”